Check out this op-ed by Dr. William Shughart and Dr. Diana Thomas on airlines and the DOJ’s antitrust efforts. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/19/shughart-antitrust-busybodies/

“Moreover, the antitrust law enforcement decisions are vulnerable to the influence of special-interest groups, as we recently documented in a Cato Institute policy analysis. When it comes to reviewing mergers, such groups work hard to have their preferences represented in the final decision. In the case of the American-US Airways consolidation, one cannot ignore the parochial interests in low airfares of Washington’s political elites, who frequently fly out of and return to Washington Reagan National as well as to the Big Apple’s LaGuardia Airport.”